There is almost 30 miles of coastline that covers the area used for the invasion that fateful day in June, 1944. Once we left the Omaha Beach site we traveled 8 miles to the next monument at Pointe du Hoc. This is a monument to the Rangers that scaled a 100 foot cliff to disable German guns threatening both the Omaha and Utah Beach landing sites. While the guns had obviously been removed, the concrete bunkers and the craters from the bombing activities that had occurred in an effort to knock these gun sites out still remained.
226 Rangers attempted to take this position and only 95 remained after 2 days of fighting. President Ronald Reagan went to this site and made a dedication to this fine group of young men.
Leaving there we traveled yet another 10 miles to the Utah Beach site.
We drove through several small villages and in each one there was a war museum with equip, tanks, guns, aircraft that had been restored and photos, stories and videos of the events that took place over the next 90 days as the Allied forces drove the Germans from France and effectively ended the war.
Fri Oct 12 we boarded the ferry in Ouistreham, Fr. and headed for Portsmouth, UK. We have a nice enough room at the IBIS Heathrow Hotel across the street from where we will catch our plane home Wed Oct 17. Ironically our room number is 534, the same as our home address back in Ca. From this room we are entertained by watching the aircraft take off and land at the airport, almost as if we were in the tower. Fortunately the hotel is very well sound proofed and it has not impacted our sleeping at night.
We have one more journey of significance, delivering the motorcycle to Chester on Mon. A drive of about 200 miles. We will then take the train back to London and public transportation back to the hotel. This will be the last entry to the blog until after we have returned to the USA.
Hope you have enjoyed seeing some of Europe through our eyes and experiences!
Leaving there we traveled yet another 10 miles to the Utah Beach site.
Fri Oct 12 we boarded the ferry in Ouistreham, Fr. and headed for Portsmouth, UK. We have a nice enough room at the IBIS Heathrow Hotel across the street from where we will catch our plane home Wed Oct 17. Ironically our room number is 534, the same as our home address back in Ca. From this room we are entertained by watching the aircraft take off and land at the airport, almost as if we were in the tower. Fortunately the hotel is very well sound proofed and it has not impacted our sleeping at night.
We have one more journey of significance, delivering the motorcycle to Chester on Mon. A drive of about 200 miles. We will then take the train back to London and public transportation back to the hotel. This will be the last entry to the blog until after we have returned to the USA.
Hope you have enjoyed seeing some of Europe through our eyes and experiences!
We will miss reading your blog and marking the map and watching YouTube for all the different towns and sites you been. Truly enjoyed, contined safe travels back to USA.
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